Miss Lucinda Fluffikins I
by Blue Spotted Leopard
Summary: During Zoro's time at Kuraigana Island, Mihawk gets a little surprise for Perona so why does this leave more work for our green-haired swordsman?
1. Introductions

**22nd Feburary 2013  
**

**Summary:**

During Zoro's time at Kuraigana Island, Mihawk gets a little surprise for Perona so why does this leave more work for our green-haired swordsman?

**Disclaimer:**

All characters belong to respective owners. This is non-profit fan-based story.

**Notes: **Well this was supposed to be a onehot but that didn't seem to work out. However this won't be too long, it should be about 3 chapters long.

* * *

"A Puppy?"

"Yes a puppy."

"What on earth possessed you to get her a puppy?" The green haired swordsman said as he looked apprehensively to his rival and teacher.

"She's been complaining for six months that she wanted a cute pet," Mihawk replied.

"So that's where you went then? To get a puppy?" Zoro scowled.

"No of course not. It doesn't take three weeks just to get one puppy. I got her on the way back."

"Where did you get it from?"

"I know a village on a nearby island. The farmer I bought our food from just had a litter," Mihawk answered.

Zoro grunted in reply and looked at Perona as she sat gleefully playing with the young puppy. It was a mongrel that looked like it had a mixture of herding dogs in its blood. Probably a mixture of collie and shepherd, but Zoro couldn't tell until it was fully-grown.

"She's a Malinois cross. Her sire was a large crossbreed but he has a bit of border collie in him that shows on her markings," stated Mihawk. "The farmer has been using him as a guard dog. Her mother, the malinois, was a fine herder."

Zoro shook his head in exasperation and glared at his teacher again.

"It still doesn't change the fact that I don't think Perona can look after her," he scolded. "Her previous pets were zombies that were programmed to respond to her every whim."

"She'll manage, she promised to take care of her."

"Ch'," Zoro scoffed. "Like that will happen." He continued to watch the ghost girl play with the puppy before scooping it up into her arms and heading towards them.

"Look Zoro!" she squealed. "Look what Mihawk-sama got me!" She brought the puppy up to Zoro's face for him to get a better look. He flinched backwards but seeming unperturbed by his scowl the puppy looked at him with big eyes then yipping happily and licking him on the nose.

"Aww she likes you," Perona smiled sweetly.

"Remember Perona," Mihawk said. "She is not a toy."

"Yes Hawky-sama," she said as she resorted to her nickname for the man.

"You have to look after her properly, she's not an invincible zombie."

"Yes sir," Perona pouted up at him innocently.

Zoro didn't seem convinced, Nami pulled that expression on a daily basis to get her own way but he nodded to Perona in approval. The swordsman hated to see vulnerable creatures mistreated. That's why he was always close to Chopper, the small doctor brought out a paternal instinct in him. Zoro noted that he would have to keep an eye on the puppy to make sure Perona was doing her job.

"So what are you going to call her?" Mihawk said in an unusually chipper tone breaking the awkward silence as Zoro critically studied the woman. Zoro suspected that the man was relieved to have put a stop to Perona's constant whining than he originally put on.

"Ummmm," Perona paused and looked at the puppy. "Fluffikins."

Suppressing a snort of disbelief the Straw-Hat pirate spoke up.

"You can't call her that," he scowled.

"Why not?"

"Its not a proper name. She is a living being remember," Zoro replied.

"But it is a proper name. She's fluffy and she's my dog so I can do what I want."

Sensing the tension between his two wards Dracule intervened.

"Perhaps what Roronoa is saying is that, although Fluffikins is a good nickname its not a very suitable full name," he said. "It doesn't mean that you can't call her that."

Zoro spun around. That was not what he was saying at all. There was no way that he was calling that dog Fluffikins. It isn't fair on the dog and he would look like a fool.

"Okay," Perona stuck her tongue out at Zoro. "If she must have a proper name… I guess Lucinda is quite nice."

That was better in Zoro's eyes. Although he still felt sorry for the poor pup that the girl was still going to her something stupid.

"Her name shall be Miss Lucinda Fluffikins the First."

Well maybe he thought too soon.

What the heck was wrong with this girl?

"How do you like it Fluffikins?" She smiled smugly as she spoke to the pup in her arms. "Miss Princess Lucinda Fluffikins the First is a very good name for a gorgeous puppy like you." Sticking out her tongue out to the swordsman she carried on talking gibberish to the pup.

Mihawk couldn't help but watch in amusement as Perona continued to goad the Straw-hat pirate. The sound of frustrated teeth grinding could be clearly heard in the large spacious lounge they were currently sitting in. As his eyes drifted to the pup in Perona's arms he watched curiously as he saw wide eyes look up to the man in curiosity and adoration. It didn't go unnoticed when Roronoa made brief eye contact with the mutt with a fierce protectiveness that could be faked. It was something that Mihawk had not expected to see in the other swordsman but this seemed to work quite nicely. Even Dracule's eyes Zoro was too uptight, so if this puppy made him relax a bit it would be welcomed.

Yet one thing that was quite clear, Mihawk thought as he watched Zoro throw his arms up and leave the room. That puppy was going to have all of them wrapped around her paw.


	2. Growing up

**20th March 2013  
**

**Summary:**

During Zoro's time at Kuraigana Island, Mihawk gets a little surprise for Perona so why does this leave more work for our green-haired swordsman?

**Disclaimer:**

All characters belong to respective owners. This is non-profit fan-based story.

**Notes: **Well this was supposed to be a oneshot but that didn't seem to work out. However this won't be too long, it should be about 3 chapters long. This is not beta'd so if any mistakes are found could you please let me know, thank you.

* * *

Mihawk didn't know whether to be angry or impressed. He was currently on his main training field looking for his wayward student for a one on one training session. However he had come across something that he had been dreading for some time.

It had been just under 2 weeks since he had come back with the puppy Mihawk had to leave on business in order to meet up with the other Shichibukai. He had left Zoro and Perona to their own devices while he was gone, it was a risk but he believed that he could trust them for the three weeks he was gone.

When he got back, everything seemed a bit too normal for his tastes. The teens had not caused any damage and Zoro's training schedule was kept to. It had taken two weeks to find out what trouble the Straw-hat had gotten into but he was not expecting this. Finding the training ground littered with bodies of sleeping Mandrills was quite a surprise, but finding the green haired pirate in amongst them another matter. The fact that the mandrills had evolved to copy was not the problem, but how had he managed to get them to copy this without being mauled in the process? Roronoa Zoro would never cease to amaze him.

A small yip brought Dracule out of his musings as the puppy trotted past him and started to weave amongst the bodies. She fearlessly ignored all of the apes until she came across the young swordsman. Stopping she looked curiously at him before lifting a paw over his face.

"Don't you dare," Zoro mumbled and Mihawk watched in amusement as the puppy paused to look at the sleeping man before carrying on with hitting him on the face. The man flinched and opened an eye to scowl at the puppy who was looking down at him with huge doe eyes.

"What?" he groaned to the pup who couldn't understand a word he was saying. It pawed him in the face again causing Zoro's nose to wrinkle in displeasure.

"Leave me alone you stupid mutt! I'm tying to sleep." However she misinterpreted the anger in his voice for excitement and she jumped up yipping.

"Oh no," Zoro said. "I am not going to play with you."

Running in a circle she leaped on his chest and tilted her head. Zoro gasped as he was winded. The puppy had grown quite a lot in a few weeks and although she was nowhere near fully grown she could still put quite up quite a lot of force when she jumped around.

Noticing his unguarded face she started to lick him, leaving him covered in puppy slobber.

"God damn it, why are you not with Perona?" Zoro shouted. One of the sleeping mandrills flinched making him sit up and pull for his sword but the slumbered on. This was why he was worried about the ghost princess' attention span. If she couldn't keep an eye on her pets something bad may happen to them.

Pushing her off she stopped licking his face and tilted her head in curiosity. The face was adorable and even the most heartless of men would have had trouble resisting it, which made the swordsman smile.

"Come on,' he got up from his resting spot. "Lets go find Perona before these guys wake up." Zoro scooped her up into his arms and they left the training ground.

Mihawk smiled as he watched the two interact. He would be having quite a lot of fun with the Straw-hat pirate with this. After all he still needs to be disciplined on turning his monkeys into lazy oafs. Training would have to wait until later.

Perona was found in her room deep in the darkness depths of the castle. Considering he love for living in the dark and depressing places she did love to decorate her rooms with some of the most blinding colours. Once Zoro reached the door he had to shield his eyes from the onslaught of colour and frowning he knocked on the door. The princess looked up and screeched.

"Zoro! I told you not to come into my room!"

"Shut up Perona!" Zoro snapped back. "I came to bring you this. You really should look after her better or she could have gotten hurt."

He held out the puppy for the woman to take only to have her sneer at the dog.

"Oh no I told Fluffikins" Zoro flinched. "To not come down here either. She's being punished!"

Zoro couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"For what?"

"She won't stop that stupid yapping!" Perona pouted. "Its not cute at all. She wasn't doing as I said so I shut her outside!"

"Of course she didn't know what you are saying she's only a couple of months old." Zoro ground his teeth together. "And when did you last feed her?"

"Yesterday morning. She's not being fed until she's finished her punishment," she waved her hand dismissively.

"You stupid witch," Zoro sneered. "She doesn't understand what's wrong unless you teach her. You cannot withhold food on a defenseless growing animal, it will make her sick."

"She's not defenseless, look what stupid Fluffikins did to my finger."

"Well if you fed her!"

"FINE!" Perona screeched. "Feed Fluffikins if you must, but I will not have you preaching on how I should look after my pets. She's still being punished, now get out of my sight."

Zoro didn't need to linger as he sped out of the room, slamming the door with an almighty bang. If he stayed any longer he knew the crazy princess would resort to her stupid devil fruit power.

The puppy in his arms was visibly shaking, probably from the argument. He hoped Perona hadn't hit the poor thing, but to have such a severe reaction to her shouting… Then again that terrible screeching was enough to frighten away any animal. Maybe that is why she was better with zombies.

They silently made their way to the kitchen with Zoro scratching her behind the ear to calm her down. When they arrived only the clatter of the swordsman could be heard as he prepared the dog a nice meal of dry puppy food and meat.

Lucinda was running in circles by the time the food was done but Zoro made sure that she sat before putting the food down. Might as well start teaching her new manners, since Perona wasn't going to.

The pup dived into her meal with vigor and Zoro chuckled. Silently he slid down the counter to sit on the floor next to her.

"God knows what shit-cook would think if he found out that witch was starving you," he muttered. "Even if she is a lady."

She gave him a quick glance she dived back into her food.

"Never mind, even my Captain would be angry," he added. "Then again he'd try to steal most of yours."

Within minutes the food was gone and Lucinda (Zoro refused to call her Fluffikins) was licking her paws to get the last remnants of food.

"Come on," Zoro said as he got up to leave. She stood up and followed his obediently to the main living room.

Mihawk was sat by the fire and the pup bounded over to him, yipping happily at his feet.

"You missed our last training session," the man scolded with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "What would the world say if I told them that the demon hunter has a soft spot for puppies?"

"Shut up, she interrupted my nap," Zoro retorted. "I went to tell Perona off, it turns out she's not feeding Lucinda."

"Yes well I will have to go talk to her about that." Mihawk said.

"She can't just throw the responsibilities onto me, but I won't let the poor dog suffer," Zoro said gruffly.

"I'll get to it," Mihawk said. "But if I find you teaching my Mandrills bad habits again I'll make you wear Perona's bear outfit for a week."

"Shit," Zoro flinched in horror before composing himself to glare at his teacher. "Understood."

"Now go do your morning drills. Tomorrows session will be twice as long to make up for today." Zoro nodded and went off to find his weights, leaving the puppy by the fire, happily dozing with a full stomach.

* * *

"Again!" bellowed Mihawk from the sidelines as his pupil tried to defeat a dozen mandrill baboons at once. The swordsman was managing to cut them down quite easily, but that was what Mihawk wanted. The more he fought, the more difficult it got.

He had been at it for hours, but was not tiring and Mihawk smiled that finally some progress was being made.

About half an hour passed and Zoro cut down his last ape.

"Okay. I think that will be it for a day," he said before grinning uncharacteristically. "But why don't we both finish off by having a little competition."

Zoro sighed as he watched the Mandrills edging warily away from their master. He was absolutely exhausted but couldn't really pass this up.

"What kind of competition?"

"An all out battle," Mihawk said. "All the mandrills. Lets see who can defeat the most."

He may be exhausted but it had been a long time since Mihawk let him fight him. This should be entertaining. Besides he had to win, the crafty Shichibukai had worn him out just to get an advantage of him and that would not do at all.

"Your on."

"Very well," Mihawk said as he called on the Mandrills. "One katana each, we start now."

Wherever the monkeys were hiding the two swordsmen were suddenly bombarded by attacks from over a hundred or so Mandrills.

The exhaustion was soon forgotten as Zoro cut down dozens of apes. Fighting alongside Mihawk always brought back many memories of his time at the dojo, his first fight with Mihawk and the drive he gained from them to both protect and grow stronger. Yet most of all it made him miss his nakama.

Fighting side by side with his friends to beat a foe that outnumbered them. Mihawk made him feel like he was competing against the cook again, He was quite surprised when Mihawk started to tease and mock Zoro when the competed. Who would have thought that the stern faced Shichibukai had a playful side. To Zoro, Mihawk didn't faze him anymore...

"I lost count on that one," Mihawk quipped as he took down a large group of Mandrill.

"Ch," Zoro retorted as he took down his 42nd ape. "You'll have to just count it as one then ... 43 ... 44.."

"Don't bet on it Roronoa, I'm still beating you at 50!"

"You won't of you keep yapping like that old man!"

"I'm not worried, you are still out of my league Roronoa!"

"Well what does that say about your teaching skills!"

The banter carried on in this manner which made the mandrills fight back with more vigor as the were being ignored. However they were so caught up in their fight they didn't notice the arrival of a small puppy looking for food. She stood at the edge of the battlefield before finding the moss-head in the crowd and walked blindly into the fray. She happily trotted along, narrowly missing as the mandrills headed towards the two swordsmen, with weapons drawn.

Her small form went unnoticed for quite a while, but that didn't stop her. She was hungry and the green-haired man was the only one that gave her food. She needed the green-haired man to talk to the horrible woman. Especially since the shrill woman had started to dress her up in stupid uncomfortable people clothes.

The closer she got the more dangerous it got as two mandrills came flying towards her, making her stumble out of the way. Realising that she was surrounded, the puppy frantically began to look around for a way to the humans. These monkeys were big and scary, Lucinda was terrified and before she knew it she was spotted.

The two swordsman were mortified as a sharp yelp echoed throughout the clearing. Frantically trying to find the source of the vulnerable pup, Zoro span around around to his left just as a Mandrill had swung his sword toward his head. The Mandrills was disposed of easily and he was about to do on a rampage when Mihawk stopped him.

"Look," he said as he pointed to his right. The monkeys had all frozen and were all staring in horror towards one point. Both rushed towards the site to find Lucinda lying on the floor in the middle of a ring of apes. The mandrill that had dealt the blow was being dragged back into the forest by his kin. The rest were scrabbling to get to the young dog, grunting in worry.

"Hey!" Shouted Zoro with Mihawk hot on his heels. "You get away from her!" He sent his most menacing glare towards them, but Zoro suspected that Mihawk's presence was the main reason as they all scampered into the trees.

"Roronoa.." Mihawk started but Zoro didn't hear him as he headed towards Lucinda. He scooped her up to find that she had a large gash on her back leg that was bleeding substantially. Thankfully it didn't look to deep, it should heal quite easily.

"Damn it!" Zoro hissed under his breath. "Where is Perona! That witch is supposed to be looking after her! You said you would talk to her!"

Mihawk sighed as he examined the wound, making Lucinda whimper weakly.

"I did talk to her, but you know what she is like Roronoa," he replied. "You know what the girl is like!"

"Of course I do, you still got her an innocent living being to look after!" Zoro ripped off a bit of his shirt and tied to around her leg as he tried to stop the bleeding. She lay quietly on his lap and watched him curiously with a slight whine.

"I was trying to teach her a bit of responsibility.," Mihawk had finally lost his cool and grabbed Zoro's arm, dragging him to his feet before pulling him towards the castle. "God knows who raised that child, she's like a spoilt toddler." Slightly shocked at Mihawk's anger Zoro agreed,

"I know, she thinks she can get away with everything with her Devil Fruit power."

"She will be disciplined, believe me," Mihawk said as Zoro shrugged off his had and began to walk freely. "First we need to patch her up and you need to get your eye seen to."

What?" Zoro reached for his face to find it covered in blood,. He had been so concerned about rescuing the dog that he didn't realise that he had been hit. As the pain finally registered he closed his left eye and grimaced. It looks like that last mandrill had managed to get him.

"Come on Roronoa," Mihawk took the pup out of his hands and giving him some cloth to stop the bleeding. "Meds room first, then we can talk."

"If you insist."


	3. Recovery

**22nd March 2013  
**

**Summary:**

During Zoro's time at Kuraigana Island, Mihawk gets a little surprise for Perona so why does this leave more work for our green-haired swordsman?

**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to respective owners. This is non-profit fan-based story.

**Notes: **Well this was supposed to be a oneshot but that didn't seem to work out. However this won't be too long, I am hoping that the next chapter will be the last. This is not beta'd so if any mistakes are found could you please let me know, thank you.

* * *

"Hopefully you haven't caused any irrevocable to that eye Roronoa," Mihawk said as he tried to patch up the gash that went over his left eye. "I am not a doctor but there doesn't seem to be any structural damage to the eyeball itself but you may have done some internal damage to it."

"I could see out of it fine before you mentioned it," Zoro said.

"Yes but sometimes the damage isn't instant," Mihawk countered. "You should rest your eye or you could go blind in it."

Mihawk finished by putting a poultice and bandage on the eye. Zoro wasn't going to be using it anytime soon.

"At least I can get some training done on my depth perception."

"Did you not listen to me?" Mihawk scowled. "Another knock or trauma of any kind could cause you to become blind in that eye!"

Zoro scowled.

"I would rather go blind in that eye if it means I can fight without worrying about it."

Mihawk had to give it to him. The boy's resolve was incredible. He had never met anyone who was so willing to risk his health so much to get stronger.

"You are an idiot," he sighed before they sat in silence. Zoro was sat on the floor of Mihawk's personal medical room with Fluffikins on his lap. Zoro had seen that she had been treated first and she was now trying to sleep it off. Her leg was bandaged and they had managed to stop the bleeding but Mihawk says that the wound would probably scar.

Zoro couldn't help but think back onto the events that caused all this. If only he was more aware of his surroundings this wouldn't have happened. What on earth was she doing out there in the first place? Perona had said that she had the puppy locked up in her room, yet obviously she was wrong, not that it was at all surprising. What was surprising though, was the was the the baboons reacted to Lucinda when she was attacked.

"Hey," Zoro said breaking the silence. "What happened back there with the apes?"

Mihawk looked up looking slightly perplexed.

"What do you mean Roronoa?"

"I've never seen them act so frightened when they hit Lucinda. I t was like they cared about whether she was hurt."

"Like many apes and monkeys these Mandrill have a very strong social structure. I assume they saw Miss Lucinda as a child that needs to be protected and punished the one who struck her." Mihawk explained.

"Ch," Zoro scowled. "There not complete monsters then?"

"No of course not."

"And here I was thinking that they only ran away because they were afraid that you were angry," Zoro teased his teacher.

"Well that has well," Mihawk replied with a slight smile. "Unlike you, they at least have some sense of self preservation."

"Mm," Zoro grunted in reply. He was not going to raise to the bait again, Mihawk would just tease him mercilessly. Zoro always found it a little unnerving and it made him miss his nakama. Lucinda stirred a bit as Zoro got up with her in his arms.

"I am going to my room to take a nap," he told his teacher. "And she is coming with me."

"Okay, you rest up for now," Mihawk replied. "Once your eye is healed we will be training twice as hard to make up for lost time."

"Yeah whatever," Zoro said as he walked out of the room waving as he went.

"Well I better go talk to Perona then." Mihawk sighed. This is why he hated having people living in his castle. There was no peace.

Once Zoro had reached his room he settled on his bed sitting up against the headboard he settled the pup on the covers in front of him. She let out a huge yawn and looked up at him with big eyes.

"Don't look up at me like that," he said. "Your the one who walked into the fight like that."

Lucinda whined as she got up. Hobbling towards him she went up to his face and sniffed his eye cautiously.

"Oi you leave that alone," Zoro said pushing her away gently. "You need to rest your leg."

Pulling out the doe eyes again she pawed at him relentlessly only stopping when Zoro began to scratch her behind the ear.

"You know, if you keep this up Perona is going to completely disown you," he said staring at the opposite wall. "What do you think would happen next time? You could get killed."

Lucinda huffed as though she understood him.

"I won't have you getting into trouble like that, you are such a burden," he frowned. "Even Chopper doesn't get into trouble that easily. We'll have to train you to keep out of trouble." Pausing when he realised he was babbling like an idiot. Then again there was no one around to see.

"I doubt Perona will care as long as you do as your told." Zoro didn't know much about dog training, but he knew his father was quite good with the sheepdogs on the farm he grew up on. He had picked up a bit from him but had forgotten most of it since he left home so early to wander the dojos. He hadn't thought about his family in so long and he tried to push away the brief feeling of homesickness. He hadn't contacted home since he joined Luffy. Maybe he should write them a letter and ask them for tips. Then again he doubted his parents would approve of his piracy, but he would never know unless he tried.

"Tomorrow," Zoro yawned. "You'll start to learn how to defend yourself... Just after I take a nap."


End file.
